India is quickly becoming a powerhouse in the Web3 domain, with an estimate that it will be the world's largest Web3 developer hub by 2028. In the 'India Web3 Landscape' report, released on Tuesday by Hashed Emergent, India has recorded immense growth in this sector, with over 4.7 million developers adding themselves to GitHub in 2024 alone.
This arrival accounts for 17% of all new Web3 developers worldwide, pushing India to the position of the second-largest crypto developer hub in the world. The report also distinguishes between contributions made by Indian Web3 developers, with 45.3% of them actively coding, 29.7% working on bug fixes, and 22.4% documenting.
The major industries spearheading Web3 development in India are gaming, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized finance (DeFi), and real-world assets (RWAs). What's particularly interesting is that more than half of these developers have joined the Web3 scene within the past two years, and most are below 27 years old.
Hackathons continue to be an important point of entry for such developers, and Web3 companies are establishing alliances with universities in states such as Odisha, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, and Kerala to integrate education in blockchain at the early level.
Commenting on this growth, Tak Lee, CEO & Managing Partner at Hashed Emergent, stated, “India’s unique combination of technological agility, entrepreneurial drive, and widespread digital adoption is fuelling this progress. We’re now seeing a renewed wave of retail participation, shifting investor dynamics, and greater integration of Web3 solutions by enterprises and the government.”
India is also third in the world in the count of Web3 startup founders, with more than 1,200 startups presently operating within the industry. Confidence among investors has grown, with a 109% increase in funding against 2023. Indian startups have raised $564 million alone in 2024, propelling overall funding within the industry above $3 billion.
The report singles out artificial intelligence (AI), RWAs, and staking solutions as the foremost areas of investment. Global venture capital entities as well as homegrown investors are making large bets on Indian Web3 initiatives. Ecosystem funds of Layer 1 and Layer 2 blockchain chains are also contributing heavily to consolidating India's role in the international Web3 market.
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